Ole Gunnar Solskjaer really wanted to sign Erling Haaland from FC Salzburg in January, make no mistake about that, but there were two significant reasons why Manchester United abandoned their pursuit of the Norwegian striker. One of them was Mason Greenwood.
The other, reported by ESPN at the time, was that United would not agree to Haaland's advisors taking a share of any profits from a future sale of the teenager. From United's perspective, the prize of capturing one of the world's most exciting young talents was not worth the risk of his representatives having any additional influence over his future -- especially as a €50 million buy-out clause was also being demanded in the contract.